The characters wake up somewhere as amnesiac captives. The "somewhere" depends on the genre, and doesn't really affect the underlying idea. Basically, in the course of escaping and finding out who they are, the PCs will probably exhibit some tendencies. For instance, one character may immediately try to con the gaurd into letting them out. Another may fashion a makeshift lockpick. This would be read in game as the character subconsciously trying what feels most comfortable first.

Whatever they do, that's what their skills are. Each character would have a set number of point buy points that the GM would assign every time an action is taken, until they're out of points. Preferably the escape scenario is setup to give everyone plenty of opportunities, and a chance to find files about themselves, represented out of game by the character sheets.

Has anyone tried something like this before?

It sounds vaguely like the first Fez module from Mayfair/Role Aids.

As for my own campaigns, I've never tried something quite like that. It sounds like it could be fun.

It's a great idea.  Never run or played anything like it, myself.  I think there were some AD&D 0-level modules that took a sort of similar approach, but it didn't read anywhere near as cool as the way you've presented your idea.

I've run something similar, where in in A Shadowrun game we had one player choose the Amnesiac flaw.

So he picked the basics-race, height, weight, and I did the rest. The first game had him waking up in alley way remembering nothing. He had a blank character sheet for a while, until he filled in the blanks.

I made the character itself, and there were clues through out the campaign as to who he was, and how he ended up this way. Until he did something he didn't know if he could or couldn't do it. (And sometimes with defaults and good rolls he was a little over confident for a while.)

That was one character in one of my longest campaigns ever-we ran the same PC's for 4 years straight, gaming once a week minimum.

I tried it and it failed horribly. It was a Serenity game. The players woke up in a crashed ship without any memories of their identities. They retained skill knowledge, although they had to "discover" what they were skilled in.

The backstory was they were victims of an experiment by a large drug corporation and managed to escape or were left for dead.

The overall campaign arc was supposed to be finding out what happened to them, who they were etc.

The thing is, nobody cared. They just fixed up the ship and then started looking for odd jobs. It never occurred to them to find out anything about their past.

I still think the idea has a lot of potential, I just don't know how to pitch it properly to get people really into the mystery of it all.

Quote from: GoOrangeThe thing is, nobody cared.

This is one of the hardest things to deal with, and I've been there myself. You bust monkey balls making a cool idea and setting, and working up back story and everyone just shits on it, and says who cares? Or worse don't even acknowledge it!

It happens, it sucks, but it happens.

It's an interesting idea.  In theory, you should have players get characters they want based on their dispositions towards certain actions/skill attempts, right?  I'm curious how it'd pan out with one of my groups.

It sounds like a potentially cool idea to me.  I think there should be threads or things that continue to affect the characters even if they don't want to find out who they are.  Perhaps strangers start attacking them for no reason or they talk to them like old pals and they have no idea of who they are or if they should be trusted.

Quote from: GoOrangeThe thing is, nobody cared. They just fixed up the ship and then started looking for odd jobs. It never occurred to them to find out anything about their past.

I wonder if it would work to MAKE them care.

Some NPC baddies show up screaming about what the players owe them and they're gonna bust em up if they don't cough up. If they can get away, and the bad guys are still upset, they might want to find out wtf in a hurry.

Or have the police start shooting as soon as they are spotted, that would make me keenly interested in what was going on.

Or have somebody run into them, first afraid and startled, then upon recognizing they were amnesiacs, excuse them selfs in a hurry talking about how they're gonna be rich!

Or have them constantly followed by somebody or something that gives them the high end of the creepy crawlies. An entity they can't capture, lose, or even get a good look at. Maybe something they can sense is hungry and only staying back because it knows who they are, if it ever found out they were 'absent minded', they would be in deep trouble.

Edit: oops, sorry ancientgamer, I just read your post, consider mine a vamp on your theme.

Quote from: GoOrangeI tried it and it failed horribly. It was a Serenity game. The players woke up in a crashed ship without any memories of their identities. They retained skill knowledge, although they had to "discover" what they were skilled in.

The backstory was they were victims of an experiment by a large drug corporation and managed to escape or were left for dead.

The overall campaign arc was supposed to be finding out what happened to them, who they were etc.

The thing is, nobody cared. They just fixed up the ship and then started looking for odd jobs. It never occurred to them to find out anything about their past.

I still think the idea has a lot of potential, I just don't know how to pitch it properly to get people really into the mystery of it all.

Sounds like the players never bought into the startup, or maybe never knew. I'm diagnosing at second hand here, but that's what it sounded like, GoOrange. This kinda thing always needs player buy-in to work right.

-clash

It's a thin line between rail-roading and plot hook, so walk it carefully. It's certainly not that I think it can't be done-just that doing it will require a bit more work than the average campaign.

A suggestion that I have, that I just started using, is post some things-situations, scenarios in game, what not-where your players can't see them or where they'll agree not t look and seek input from others. Put them in the players shoes, and try to get some ideas of where they'll go. It's worked pretty good for me so far.

Quote from: James McMurrayThe characters wake up somewhere as amnesiac captives. The "somewhere" depends on the genre, and doesn't really affect the underlying idea. Basically, in the course of escaping and finding out who they are, the PCs will probably exhibit some tendencies. For instance, one character may immediately try to con the gaurd into letting them out. Another may fashion a makeshift lockpick. This would be read in game as the character subconsciously trying what feels most comfortable first.

Whatever they do, that's what their skills are. Each character would have a set number of point buy points that the GM would assign every time an action is taken, until they're out of points. Preferably the escape scenario is setup to give everyone plenty of opportunities, and a chance to find files about themselves, represented out of game by the character sheets.

Has anyone tried something like this before?

I came across a Warhammer FRP scenario a few weeks ago with exactly this premise. It was explained in the setting as one of those weird WFRP insanities, and the place the PCs had to escape from was a wizard's laboratory, in a city overrun with mutants and zombies. If I ever get an WFRP game going, I'm definitely going to start it with that scenario.

Quote from: flyingmiceSounds like the players never bought into the startup, or maybe never knew. I'm diagnosing at second hand here, but that's what it sounded like, GoOrange. This kinda thing always needs player buy-in to work right.

-clash

That's about what I was going to say. It seems to me that the only way to really get buy-in for a game about amnesiacs looking for their identities is to start off with "I'm thinking about a campaign that involves amnesiacs who are looking for their identities. Does that sound cool to you guys?" If you start it up and that's not what they're after, trying to force them to want what you want will probably end wrong, but if they're looking forward to it from the start you should be alright (assuming your idea of what their identities should be is close to their idea).

Another question: should the players know that their early choices will affect their final character sheets, or should they think they're working with something that's already built and trying to discover it? I can see reasons for doing either.

QuoteIt's a thin line between rail-roading and plot hook, so walk it carefully. It's certainly not that I think it can't be done-just that doing it will require a bit more work than the average campaign.

I can't see how the first encounters can't help but be at least somewhat railroaded. If you're using reactions to stimuli to generate a sheet, you need a wide variety of stimuli. You could try to nudge things around while the sheets are still moving target so that you get non railroaded setups that you need, but that could be more trouble than its worth, especially if your players don't mind knowing that the first session or two will be fairly linear, after which they're free to go buck wild.

QuoteA suggestion that I have, that I just started using, is post some things-situations, scenarios in game, what not-where your players can't see them or where they'll agree not t look and seek input from others. Put them in the players shoes, and try to get some ideas of where they'll go. It's worked pretty good for me so far.

That's what I've got you guys for.

Actually, that's a damn fine idea. I frequently post ideas I've had, but from a higher level view. I don't think I've ever said "what would you, as a player, do with this situation? Thanks!

The idea of an amnesia start reminds me of Nine Princes in Amber, the first of Amber chronicles by Roger Zelazny. Great reading for any gamer, expecially planning to run this kind of campaign.

Quote from: KenHRI think there were some AD&D 0-level modules that took a sort of similar approach, but it didn't read anywhere near as cool as the way you've presented your idea.

Yes, this one.
I remember thumbing through it at a game store back then, several times even, and I found it incredibly boring.

There's an adventure module for the German game Midgard that has a nice twist to the amnesia idea (but it is clearly not meant as a starting point for a campaign):
The characters wake up deep in a dungeon in a partly collapsed room. They find equipment on them that they don't remember having bought (or found), one of which is a written note from a mage. It dawns on them that they were on a quest by order of that mage, that they were supposed to find something or someone called the Feathered Angel, and that something went horribly wrong.

They have to backtrack their steps and explore the dungeon a "second time".